The newspaper of record-breaking errors

Yesterday, I received the September issue of Commentary. It features an excellent piece by Joshua Muravchik called “The Neoconservative Cabal” that I don’t think is available on the net at this time. I hope to discuss Muravchik’s piece in some detail within the next few days. Tonight, though, I just want to highlight this passage that deals with a New York Times article about the “cabal’s” alleged Straussian connection:
“The New York Times claimed extravagently that [the American Enterprise Institute] consists in its entirety of Straussians, whereas a little checking yields, out of 56 scholars and fellows, exactly two who would count themselves as Straussians and a third who would acknowledge a significant intellectual debt to Strauss. The Times also identified [Richard] Perle as a Straussian — which is false — while erroneously stating that he was married to the daughter of the late military strategist Albert Wohlstetter, whom it likewise falsely labeled a Straussian. Even after an initial correction (explaining that Perle had merely studied under Wohlstetter at the University of Chicago and had not married his daughter) and a second correction (acknowledging that Perle had never studied under Wohlstetter or attended the University of Chicago) the paper still could not bring itself to retract its fanciful characterizations of either Perle’s or Wohlstetter’s ties to Strauss.”
On the other hand, the Times spelled Perle’s name correctly.